


tastes like a cherry bomb

by 10vesick



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, Kissing at Midnight, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-12
Updated: 2019-06-12
Packaged: 2020-05-02 04:03:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19191490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/10vesick/pseuds/10vesick
Summary: Ice cold lips press against his own, the feeling sending shivers down the older’s spine. He can taste cherry on Donghyuck’s lips, on his own, and it’s overwhelming but not in the same way as it always is. It’s too tart, and too perfumed, but this time, it doesn’t feel like he’s tasting on medicine.This time is different.This time, Mark likes it.





	tastes like a cherry bomb

**Author's Note:**

  * For [vvankang](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=vvankang).



> happy birthday to [my favorite baby](https://twitter.com/vvankang) !!! ily

****Mark’s least favorite flavor is cherry.

It’s not that he hates it, honestly, because he can make himself eat it when there’s no other option. But if you were to make him choose, cherry is the last flavor he’d ever pick. It’s nothing against the fruit itself, really, he just doesn’t particularly like the taste. It’s too tart, and too perfumed, and somehow it always feels like he’s biting into a bar of soap whenever he eats something cherry flavored.

Whether it’s candy, cake frosting, chewing gum or jello, he always tries to stay away from the red colored devil of a flavor.

And, believe him, Mark’s tried to like it, for he was raised to be grateful for all food on his plate.

He’s tried eating the entire drupe, the strong taste and acetone-like aroma hitting every single one of his senses before he even props it into his mouth. It always takes him around three chews before he’s either swallowing it without breathing or spitting it into his hand.

So that hasn’t really worked.

He’s tried cherry pie, cherry drinks, the cherries on top of most his desserts, but none has ever been of his liking. He’s persistent, though. He’s even tried using cherry chapstick, but ended up throwing it away after applying it only once.

Because whatever it is, it always ends up tasting like cough syrup and sadness.

All this cherry dilemma is brought to his attention while he’s studying inside his dorm room, the moment that song by The Runaways starts playing on his roommate's playlist.  

And then all that thinking just makes him hungry.

It’s a little past midnight when he tells Jaemin he’ll be back in a second, asks him if he wants him to bring something back, and when the offer is declined he’s out of the room. Mark heads to the communal kitchen downstairs, his stomach grumbling for a sweet snack and nothing remotely cherry related. It’s exams seasons and he’s prone to stay up late studying, but it’s usual for him to need a bite to eat between lessons, or else his head will explode.

As he approaches the first floor, he takes notice of the turned on lights coming from the room he’s headed.

When he finally walks in, he finds his best friend Donghyuck, seated at a counter stool, quietly enjoying what seems to be ice cream in a plastic cup.

“What are you doing up?” Mark asks, looking around as if to find another student lurking inside the kitchen, maybe the younger’s roommate accompanying him.

Hyuck pulls the spoon out of his mouth. “What are _you_ doing up?”

“I was studying for chem but got hungry.”

“Well, then that makes two of us.”

A dumb smile finds its way up Mark’s lips as he heads for the fridge. “Is there any ice cream left?”

Donghyuck’s answer comes at the exact same second Mark opens the fridge, and his eyes fall over the one red-and-pink colored container inside. “Cherry only.”

This has got to be a joke.

Mark grimaces at the sight, swearing he’d asked the hall monitor to buy other flavors. He wonders who could’ve been the monster to finish all the delicious butter pecan ice cream he always so diligently claims as his. His bet is on Taeyong hyung.

“You still enemies with cherry?” Donghyuck asks mockingly, bringing Mark back from his mental accusations.

“I’m not _enemies_ with cherry. Just not a big fan.”

Donghyuck squints his eyes at him, slowly savoring a spoonful of ice cream, the cold dessert immediately dancing over his taste buds. When he sees him chewing, Mark realizes it’s the worst kind of cherry ice cream— the natural one, with actual bits of cherry inside.

He turns around and scans the fridge for something else to eat. As Hyuck watches him avoid the fruity dessert, an idea creeps into his mind. He swallows from the thought alone.

Donghyuck knows he’s been meaning to do it for a long time, and he doesn’t know exactly why it’s right now, of all times, that he feels brave enough to try it.

Maybe it’s because he can’t push it further any longer.

Maybe it’s because it’s past midnight, and most his brain cells are either asleep or left at the Chemistry book on his dorm room.

Either way, he finds himself speaking before even stopping to think if it’s a good idea.

“Come here,” Donghyuck says, his voice almost hesitant.

Mark looks back at him and shakes his head. “Nuh-uh. Are you going to force feed me that shit again? You know that didn’t work out too well last time.”

Last time being around two weeks ago, when Hyuck shoved a spoonful of strawberry ice cream into Mark’s mouth without a warning and the latter almost choked to death (not really, but it felt that way).

The younger rolls his eyes, setting down his empty cup over the counter and dropping the spoon to the side, the silverware making a rattling noise that matches how fast his heart is beating. “I’m not doing that again. Just come here. I want to try something.”

Mark closes the fridge and walks towards the other with reluctant steps, feet dragging against the floor as the younger turns around in his seat.

Once he’s standing before Donghyuck, he takes notice of the difference in heights. Sitting over the stool, his friend is at least four inches above him, and he looks down at Mark with something flaring up in his eyes.

Mischief, probably.

Hyuck places both hands over Mark’s shoulders, and for a second there, he doesn’t say anything. He simply takes a deep breath and then sighs, and his breath smells like cherry but Mark doesn’t mind.

It’s probably the first time he doesn’t mind.

“Close your eyes,” Hyuck orders.

“What?” Mark grows visibly tense, and he becomes scared of what the other might do to him. “No way.”

“Don’t you trust me, Canada?”

“Am I supposed to?”

Hyuck smacks his arm. “Just close your eyes.”

Cherry tinted lips pout in his direction, and it’s almost impossible for the older to look away. They’re right in front of his eyes, and they’re so pink and so plump it makes him swallow.

A little reluctantly, Mark closes his eyes.

Donghyuck’s voice drops down to a whisper, and he almost sounds embarrassed when he speaks next. “You can stop me at any time if you don’t like it.”

At such set of words, Mark’s already creating worst case scenarios inside his head, and the thought of Hyuck’s forcing him to eat that yucky ice cream again is enough to make him shiver.

He opens his eyes in a snap, ready to back away from whatever the other is thinking. “What are you—?”

But his question is cut off, and his heart is put to a stop, and all traces of panic on his face are overshadowed by Donghyuck’s lips over his.

Mark’s eyes are open, and his senses are heightened as he realizes what’s going on.

Ice cold lips press against his own, the feeling sending shivers down the older’s spine. He can taste cherry on Donghyuck’s lips, on his own, and it’s overwhelming but not in the same way as it always is. It’s too tart, and too perfumed, but this time, it doesn’t feel like he’s tasting on medicine.

This time is different.

This time, Mark likes it.

The feeling starts as a whole ride, a thrill building up expectation.

Then, it explodes.

It’s a cherry bomb.

They part after a few seconds and lean into one another for support, their foreheads touching, cherry scent flooding all of Mark’s senses.

Hyuck’s eyes are still closed and he doesn’t seem like he wants to open them, lips stinging hot despite having been cold from ice cream just a second ago. Mark takes notice of the redness appearing on the other’s ears.

Cherry colored.

“Well?” Donghyuck asks quietly, like he doesn’t want to be heard, like he doesn’t know if he wants to be answered.

Mark takes a second to catch his breath.

“... Can I have another taste?”

Hyuck’s eyes flutter open and he scoffs in disbelief, trying but failing to stop the smile forming on his face.

He nods and leans in again, this time slower, and Mark makes sure he pays close attention to the blast of flavor that clashes against his mouth once more.

And just like that, it’s settled.

Mark’s favorite flavor is cherry.


End file.
